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I finally got it finished. A special thanks to batninja for helping me get it to work. Thanks goes out to those who answered my call for electronics gurus as well. For starters here is a video of it. I will post progress pics later if you're interested.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQdVC7nj05E

Here are some of the beginning steps. I started with just plain old SS ice cream scoops and removed the handles.

Then I got out the trusty old dremel tool and some cutting wheels. First I ground off the handle attachment "spot weld" points. Then cut out the slotted areas on the edge then cut the grooves in. If I ever re-do it I'll cut the grooves in first. After cutting the grooves I cleaned them up a bit with a trianguar file. I also used a coarse buffer pad to knock off some of the shine and add some scuffing.

At this point all that was left was to drill the holes for the top Lamp and switch.

OK I'm back and with a little more time. The next task I started was to build the switch on top. I decided that 1.75 inches would be about right and then drew kind of a template at that length and a width that looked appropriate.
I decided to use layered, 1/8 inch thick, sintra to make it. I thought three layers would do the trick, so I cut out three of the shapes, removing the entire center from one, partially from the second, and none from the third. Three seemed too thick, though, when actually put together. However, just two layers seemed too thin, so I cut another of the shapes out of 1/16 inch styrene and added it to the bottom. Just right. Insert a whole bunch of other steps here to get a channel, the width of my slide switch, through the second layer. Then add another 1/16 inch piece to the inner area to decrease the thickness of the first layer. I know it may sound really confusing and more complex than it needed to be but there is a method to my madness. Anyway after I got my general shape down I then added Bondo to fill cracks and build up the bottom to fit on the hemispheres. With that finished I made the top center portion of the switch, to resemble the tank tread, using the 1/16 styrene.
With all this completed I made a mold of the two parts and made resin copies so I had a nice solid part to work with.

While waiting for molds to dry I started on the center ring. Initially I planned to use the 1/16 styrene, but I couldn't get it to shape right. So, I went back to what I used on the first TD I built and used a Pringles can. It is already round and soft enough to flex where I needed it to. I had to cut a section out of it for size but a little bit of super glue and glazing putty fixed that. For a little bit of extra support I glued a small section of the can over the seam and where the lights would go through.
I wanted to use 3mm LED's for the lights on the front so I picked up some holders for them, carefully made the holes, and inserted them where the lights would eventually be. With that done, a coat of primer and a coat of ultra flat black, the ring is finished and on to the electronics.

After going through a few different circuits with no success I asked for help and got some great responses. Thanks guys. However I still couldn't get anything to work. Then I got a message about a flashing LED unit. Thanks Batninja. The flasher unit is one of those "Fashion Lights" sets for t-shirts, etc... I had started to do some modifying before I took the first pic but here it is.
I figured out the flash patterns, paired up the ones that were the same, started clipping wires, and mixed and matched set 1 and 4 etc until I got a "kind of random" look to the flashes as seen in the video. The original switch was mounted directly to the board, which would not do, so I carefully removed it and added some wire to it and a bigger switch. Then I ran into some issues that had me quite frustrated for a while. But I got those figured out and began trying to figure out how to wire in the red LED for the top.\

I hit the wrong button... sorry. Anyways, I kept running into the issue of the red led flashing, but eventually I found a small unused hole next to one of the positive battery terminals, patched into that and hooked the negative lead into the switch. It cured the actual flashing but it dioms a little when the other lights flash. I can live with this. The board itself also had to be modified a little to fit inside. So I carefully trimmed and/or filed all the corners and edges off, as dangerously close to the functional portions as I possibly could, and it fit, just a hair on the snug side. *NOTE* Try not to move the wires too awfully much. They are more delicate than I thought they would be, considering they were made to be able to wear. Once I had everything how I wanted it I pretty well set it in place with a gob of hot glue.

The unit is a little cramped on the inside, but it works and thats what I was shooting for.

OK all. I'm going to try and finish up with this post. Ther aren't as many pictures foe this part because I was getting excited about finishing and simply forgot to take them.

After getting the electronics worked out I needed to add a hole for the top light and the switch. For the switch I drilled a "pilot hole" in the center of the top dome and then used a square needle file to make it just big enough for the slide of the switch to fit through and slide back and fourth. I also added a hole in the center of the slide for a set screw with a head just slightly wider than the slide itself. This will come into play when attaching the final "switch cover".

I didn't like the how the lens had grooves so I filed them down smooth first then I drilled a hole, about where I thought it should be, the exact size of the lens, that way the lens could set flush. To hold it in I added a piece of styrene to the inside with super glue so I had something to mount it to.

Before putting it all together I removed my new resin "switch cover" and switch top from the molds and began working with them. First I sat the main, large piece on top covering the hole on the front. Then from the inside, while holding the part in place, I traced the switch opening onto the bottom of it. After that I moved the part back to where it had just uncovered the hole and did the same thing. That let me see where the hole needed to be cut out of the bottom to allow for the full movement of the "switch cover". After removing the traced area, again just wide enough for the switch itself to fit through, I test fit the actual switch. It bacame apparent that i needed to trim a bit off of the switch slide because it was too tall and wouldn't let the set screw hold the cover down so I took just a little off the top. Perfect. I also had to trim just a hair off of each side of the inside groove of the cover to allow for the width of the set screw.

For the top light I just used the supplied nut. To attach the switch to the inside, though, I used super glue, rather than making two more small holes for the screws that it came with. I did one last test fit of the resin cover before painting it.
If you look closely you can see how the switch and set screw set down inside the cover far enough that I can get the top on, and you can see the top in the background.

Adding paint to the switch cover, reattaching it, adding the top, and with a little bit of black and tan paint to weather... Done.
Front
Back
Left
Right
Top
Bottom

Just for kicks... I mentioned earlier that I had made one before. I used a hollow plastic baseall for it. Here is a comparison shot of V1 vs. V2. I bet you can't guess which is which.

Sorry if this is confusing to you. It makes sense to me. Why wouldn't it? If you have any questions, just ask. I'll answer to the best of my ability. If you build one let us see.

Thanks for all the positive feedback and for letting me waste some of your valuable time.

Thanks for adding me on myspace and for offering to help with my thermal detonator construction... I thought I'd give a quick update... today I breadboarded a working lighting setup with a solid red and three sequentially blinking yellow LEDs. My first sucessful circuit build! Now I have to work on getting the flashing sequence right! Any secrets or suggestions?

Howdy. Glad to hear you're having some success. As far as a lighting sequence I'm not sure about the "movie accurate" flashes. I tried a number of circuits and had no success. I ended up using a light kit that was made for making a shirt with flashing lights. Thanks to batninja for that one. I just figured out the original flash pattern, reduced the number of lights from 10 to 3, and doubled up some of the wires on LED's to get a semi random looking flash sequence. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. The only thing I can think of, if they flas sequentially, is to set it up to flash "out of order." Like starting with 1 the 3 the 2, or 2, 1, 3. Hope this helps.